cryptsleeper | 20s AU Post

20s AU Post

Current Carmilla plot outline
--Post-fire, Carmilla and Mr. Peanut team up mostly to use each other. Carmilla's spent the past several months (since November, it is now February 1925) networking, and it's clear to her that Alucard's not suited for the position and that the other two are the obvious weakness. Mr Peanut needs something back, so this is perfect on her end. Mr Peanut can only imagine the joys of vampire blood in his work, and he'd like an army of vampires for his own ends.
--Shit stirring from Mr Peanut (all of March?)
--Mr Peanut also begins to sell mis Miracle Serum, which has vampire blood in it.
--Gang is very much trying to murder Mr Peanut during this.
--Start of April, vampire gets a call from one of the blood bank contacts that 3 patients have come in and are displaying some bizarre signs. Investigation yields the fact that they're in process of turning, and they've all taken the same serum.
--Additional investigation reveals O FUCK IT MR PEANUT
--Meanwhile Carmilla's been made aware of a familiar she didn't sire, so she knows something's up. Big fight with Mr. Peanut and thus Mr. Peanut is left depowered
--Gang commits a murder
--Carmilla's well sured up on her contacts now, and it's time for open rebellion (mid-April)
--In a more subtle attempt to let Alucard just step aside, she cuts the breaks on demon car and shows up to gloat/suggest he not pull a dad and go to deal with his grief quietly while she runs the city. The how he wants to do it is up to him (black widow joke goes here.) Treffy and Sypha walk in.
--1 week of straight up rebellion; feedings, no help from allies, need to do damage control instead of fight carmilla, every dracula rule is
--MEANWHILE IN GRAVITY FALLS, triangle shows Vlad what's up to try and psyche him out, somehow this finalyl snaps Vlad out of his depression and he heads home
--Just in time for Alucard and Carmilla to be tearing each other to bits in one of the bayous, it's not going well
--Vlad coming in means the king of vampires is accosted by a belmont with a pair of blessed knitting needles and a speaker with a fucking gun and he's just like what the shit happened to the world while i was gone
--Wards around the fight means that only demon car can break the wards, everyone has to pile in.
--Carmilla gets her ass kicked AND SENT TO THE JUSTICE DIMENSION

THEN THERE WERE FAERIES.
--Prior to all of this the vampire and Sypha have done a shit ton of research on how to get their Belmont back
--Sypha has also been practicing debating with dad, which leaves everyone Very Tired.
--When Trevor is actually snatched up (1 year after marriage, it takes fae effort. Taking Arn's shape fails, so it's a lot more kidnapping by force), Sypha and Alucard go into Faerie
--But they're playing this as politics, not as heroes rescuing their damsel, so that means the faeries are just "wait what now excuse u?"
--There are 3 gates and 3 trials (the particulars we're still bullshitting.) Each is asked to sacrifice 3 things. (Alucard: voice, his titles as bestowed upon by his father and his people, i forget the third; Sypha: her human form (she's a birb), fuck what were the other two)
--They enter the court at the end of the third trial. After LITERALLY ALL THE TITLES Sypha declares she Speaks for Trevor Belmont
--Claim debate over Trevor, turns out that the rules are in Sypha's favor.
--But that means debating to leave Fae without giving up what they've chosen.
--Sypha lawyers it all out, Alucard is a safety deposit and hangs out with Fae!Trevor
--In the end, safe passage out of Faerie consists of Sypha giving up her memory of the necromancer (billed as a great mage she studied under), the vampire gives up his immortality, and Trevor is replaced with Carmilla (dad was aware of this option and OK with it), but Trevor has his ability to swear taken. He now soundslike a rubber ducky when he tries
--Everyone gets home okay, except for the AU of this AU where the gang fails, but Trevor's on their doorstep like a bat out of Hell because time doesn't work right and he's been in Hell for a WHILE.

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Oh, being an asshole is basically my entire nature.

[ You can't fucking expect him to make choices like this???? He's bad at choices???? ]

I don't care that much, honestly. [ He kind of cares? It's nice to be around a person and not be at their throat all the time. ] But seeing as how you seem to prefer me not to be shitty, it'd be nice to have the option.

I meant the rosti.

[You TURNIP.]

But the rest is good to know.

I know European vampire politics. They're different here.

[ And that's technically a good thing, but he still actually kind of hates it. It's unfamiliar, and the unfamiliar has always meant bad things for Belmonts. ]

Vampires don't gather in cities in Europe. Not unless something's gone horribly, horribly wrong. It's easier to know when someone's gone missing in a small village than it is in a city, so we drove them into more rural areas. [ The bombings will have fucked that up. Vulnerable people flooding into rural areas, with less than ideal record-keeping. A good hunting ground. Ugh. ] Honestly, it's amazing to me that there can be this many sharing territory without all out war.

Fuck off, I'm working in my fourth language here. You're lucky I understand enough English for the command bullshit to work.

[ Potatobrand and Turnip Belmont ]

But no. First potato-ish thing that came to mind is all. Wasn't aware you took requests.

And we both know Romanian is right out because every time I try you just look pained.

[DAD LEFT 200 YEARS AGO AND LANGUAGE EVOLVES.]

I do. Make a list, and I can see what I know off the top of my head versus what I need to learn.

You talk like the family bestiaries read. Half those words don't exist anymore.

[ The yarn and knitting needles are coming out, now. Another potatobrand, maybe. Or something else. He's not sure. ]

I think you're overestimating how fussy I am about food. But I appreciate it.

Well I can't help it if I've missed out on twenty years of changed language, Belmont.

[Finally, Potatobrand gets put aside from the cutting board, and Alucard returns to his work.]

You live here. That means things like making requests for meals.

[So dinner happens. And then Alucard does the dishes, and a few quiet hours pass. The Belmont said something about dogs, didn't he?

That's a quick fix too. So come the night proper, when the moon is high in the trees and he and Sypha have had a few discussions (including "you just said you wouldn't miss him when he was in Hell" because fae mythology is not something at Alucard's command), there's a wolf. Tracking a Belmont through the castle, to wherever he has ended up for the evening.]

[ He's taken his knitting back to his room, by now, and is perched on the end of his bed working on it. Dinner was more pleasant than usual, but it's still a lot of people-ing for one day. And- it's not like there are no other places within the castle that he could work, but this is the place that feels least like he's in a place that he doesn't know and that doesn't want him.

The curtain pole is leaning against a wall (he likes it. and so he just. doesn't have curtains. and takes care not to stand in front of the window while dressing). There's a neat stack of his sister's dog photographs on the desk. Near enough everything else is dedicated to information, from a small copy of that map he was working on making earlier, to the small and incomplete list of vampires active in other states, to Florence and Agatha's notes and a selection of glyphs drawn on paper.

(He's got it into his head that maybe Sypha would want a Potatobrand, and so he's working on a new one. From the looks of it, it's going to turn out basically spherical. A Fat Potatobrand.)

There's no noise other than the clicking of knitting needles. He's quiet and seems- content-ish? Which is a lot as far as the Belmont goes. ]

...Oh.

[Well. Hmm. No harm in confessing now, then, with that idea shot down.]

It's just that I was thinking...rather than always butting heads with each other over our thoughts on what he ought to do and how he should do it, perhaps instead we could cooperate with each other. Because you know things that I don't — I thought — and I...

[...]

I am better at not being a complete asshole when it comes to expressing my opinions.

[She also makes julienne fries!]

We do not agree on the methods. But none of us wants to see this city crumble, and whether we like it or not, he is the one now who is trying to hold it together with his bare hands. So why not give him all of the options, the opinions, and let him be the one to choose. A council of the two of us. Maybe then this will stand a chance of working out, for all of us.

[Alucard doesn't invite himself in. That's not a vampire thing, it's a respect of space thing. Instead, he lets out a soft huff from his wolf form. As close to a hey as he can manage while being very fuzzy and not having human vocal chords.

He's been in Trevor's room only a few times before, and that's been on purpose. To let him have a sense of his own space in the castle and...and it's roughly what he thought upon a second glance. The curtain's just stupid, but everything else. It's just work.

Upsetting.]

I think you can aim higher than better at that than me, you know. But fine. If you think it'll work.

[ The matter in question is a small one for now. Two vampires feeding from the same man, a day apart from each other. He survived, hospitalized, and the two vampires were forced to anonymously pay for his doctor's bills and his wages from missed work. It could just be an accident. It could have just been a sloppy mistake. But none of them would have been so sloppy under Dracula's rule. ]

I think it's deliberate dissent. If it's not- they're still being less careful than they would be with his father at the helm. I don't think he can afford to treat it as anything less than insubordination, or to punish it any less harshly.

[ There. Not-awful enough? ]

[ He looks up at that, and- ]

Huh. Are you new? Didn't know there was a dog here.

[ -IT'S A DOG? And maybe he should be suspicious of that because Sypha said she'd never had a dog and this is a kind of odd definition of not having a dog. But dogs are never suspicious. Only ever good.

He puts the knitting down, slides down onto the floor and clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth to invite the dog in, holding out a hand. ]

[Trevor, you turnip. Think!!! About vampires that can shape shift!!!!!

Alucard walks in, and maybe that should be the real clue. The wolf carries itself with a little too much dignity, and there's a good chance that not all the dignity is earned. Whatever. He walks over, and his butt's on the floor just a few inches or so from Trevor.

To make a point though, there's a nose immediately going for one of Trevor's hand. Cold nose!]

It was a first offense, for the vampire who fed from him on the second day. I don't know that a careless mistake rises to the level of insubordination.

[But — this is good. This isn't shouting and bickering, this is laying cards on the table. Looking at a picture and voicing what they both see, through the lens they've been conditioned to see it through. And, with both of those pieces laid out, it may well be that they both are right. It may well have been an honest mistake — and it may also have been a mistake that would not have been made with Dracula's hand on the leash of the city.]

What punishment do you think is fitting, then?

No feeding from humans for a year, under threat of social exile. If he can't be trusted to check his prey's condition, he has no right at all to take from them. The hospital can supply him - and if supplies are scarce, he goes hungry.

[ He thinks. Honestly his first instinct had been that the vampire responsible should have had his fangs filed down. It's still a tempting suggestion, but being listened to is calming him down. ]

Or ridicule. Vampires are proud fuckers. Tell the whole community how careless he was, how close he came to getting all of them caught. Make him a laughing stock, and make it clear that anyone who speaks with him will be a laughing stock as well.

[ Dogs are wonderful and perfect creatures that cannot be vampires under any circumstances.

And no, no clues, just dog. Trevor laughs as the cold nose brushes against his hand before putting a hand on its head softly and petting it. ]

[Wolves don't make the exact noises dogs do, but Alucard attempts to get as close to a content woof as he can. Because that actually does feel quite nice, like when Sypha brushes his hair.

There's also a paw that's trying to rest on Trevor's wrist. Just to be there, just to say hi.]

My thought was similar, at least to the latter. Hospitality is important to these vampires. Prestige. To be forbidden to see and be seen means losing advantage and opportunity.

[She hums a little, considering.]

Yet if the punishment is too harsh, then he will have to expend his own resources to monitor the vampire for compliance with it. It would be a gamble, I think. He would reap great benefit from the example, if it were successful. But if the vampire were to circumvent his punishment, he would appear unable to enforce his commands.

[ Wolves make dog noises because they are dogs and therefore noises they make are inherently dog noises. Obviously. (This would be what is known as Trevor Logic)

He grins at the attempted woof, ruffling its ears and then taking its paw in his hand instead, shaking 'hands' and running a thumb over the back of the paw. ]

[Alucard feels immensely stupid for not having figured this out sooner.

Well, all the better now. He withdraws that paw after a few minutes, and then there's only one thing to do here: flop the hell down and sprawl all over the floor, forcing the Belmont to accommodate this large intrusion into the evening.]

Right. A month of stigma would get the message across effectively to everyone, that mistakes - or 'mistakes' - aren't going to be treated any less harshly in Dracula's absence than they would be in his presence. But it also invites genuine dissent - it gives every vampire here a chance to ignore it. For every one that does, he loses authority. He'd at least need everyone with a notable amount of influence on his side. As for the feeding-

[ He sighs. ]

-here he anywhere else, I'd suggest leaving the task to the local hunters. But the ones in that district- they're not on bad terms with him, but they don't seem too competent. Going by records from before Dracula left, they've let a lot of things slip them. I wouldn't want to rely on them.

[ Holy shit this is the best day ever? He has never been so delighted in his life? ]

Fuckers never told me there was a dog here. I'd have saved you some of the jumări.

[ Which. Technically he did? He offers Sypha and Alucard some of all the food that Agatha sends him home with. Because otherwise she would probably stab him with her knitting needles for starving the poor dears.

But he's delighted by the sudden appearance of dog, and so he does the only thing anyone really can do when faced with a dog flopped on the ground. He initiates bellyrubs. ]

[Well the vampire's going to be doing this now and again.

(Trevor being slightly happier is a matter of making sure the three of them work better together. And making the house easier to live in as well.)

There we go though. No shocker the Belmont, who apparently is the Biggest Dog Person, is skilled and wise in the way of belly rubs. And maybe his paws are going to just hang out and are completely squishable for toebean reasons. Those rumbles are very happy ones though, and he closes his eyes, content.]

So for the first, perhaps, we determine every vampire who has plans to host an affair this month, and either secure their agreement to ban the vampire, or make plans to attend ourselves to provide the deterrent. Perhaps both, to avoid suspicion.

[But as for the monitoring of the feeding...hmm.]

As for the other, what about a tether? If there were a way to monitor him, say through the distance mirror, it might make things easier.

[ It's been a fairly pleasant day, hasn't it? Between the time with the babas and the awkward but genial conversation with the Vampire and this. It's been wonderful.

It's been a while since he had a Good Day.

The wolf is large and soft and makes happy noises about belly rubs and. He's not grinning so widely anymore, but his smile is soft and constant. He's content. This is nice. ]

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20s AU Post

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